Sambangra Masterclass – CarFest North (28-29 Jul)

Meet the tutors

Global Grooves presents….

A weekend with Sambangra!

Percussion workshops plus parade

SIGN UP TO CARFEST NORTH IS NOW CLOSED. TO BE ADDED TO THE WAITING LIST EMAIL HELLO@GLOBALGROOVES.ORG

Following the success of Global Grooves’ CarFest Adventures 2017, we are delighted to offer this open Masterclass weekend led by the incredible Ian Holmes-Lewis of Sambangra.

We would like to call all Sambangra members old and new to come and celebrate with us for this fabulous reunion. Join us in the creation of a new piece of music inspired by Sambangra Rhythms and breaks that will be performed as part of an incredible full costumed Carnival performance at this year’s CarFest North! Places are extremely limited and will be offered on a first come first served basis to Sambangra Members old and new until the 1st July 2018 and then open to the wider carnival community from the 1st July.

Tutor:

Percussion Tutor: Ian Holmes-Lewis

About Sambangra

“A great band!” – the late, truly great, Ananda Shankar.

Founded by Ian Holmes-Lewis in 1997, Sambangra’s unique new fusion of Asian, Brazilian and African styles uses Samba percussion plus djembes, dohls, talking drum, dohlak etc. in a range of formats from street band to stage band with bass, keyboards, strings, reeds, vocals and guests. The Sambangra line-up currently includes musicians who have worked with such diverse artists as Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry, Sir Elton John, Moby, Fun Lovin’ Criminals, Bill Laswell, Lemn Sissay, Nitin Sawhney, and Jah Wobble.

They’ve performed at festivals and Carnivals, clubs, theatres and dancehalls all over the UK and Ireland; performed in Paris as part of the Millennium celebrations; processed twice with Inishowen Carnival group playing Sambangra rhythms in the St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Dublin; and performed on TV and at the Commonwealth Stadium as part of the 2002 Games in Manchester. Their first CD has had airplay on BBC 1, BBC 2, and BBC 3, as well as BBC and local radio stations.

The very best Bhangra / Samba-Hip-Hop fusion band in the galaxy. Mind-expanding music with a massive percussion section. This is the real thing – uncut – an unforgettable show is guaranteed.

Course Content

The content is a fusion of ideas taken from Sambangra’s extensive repertoire carefully crafted by founder and musical director Ian Holmes-Lewis. The percussive material will take influence from South Asian, West Africa, Brazilian, Cuban and Contemporary beats and breaks thoughtfully arranged to create an exciting parading performance for this years CarFest North Carnival.

Participants will have the opportunity to learn some incredible new arrangements as well as gain free entry to CarFest North featuring a host of live acts including; Jools Holland and his rhythm and blues orchestra, Status Quo, Texas, Madness, Rick Astley, The Proclaimers and many more…. Visit the Carfest website here.

Costume and instruments for performance/parade:

Drummers – Bring black shoes. You’ll be provided with a top and pants.Percussionists will need to provide their own instruments – Some instruments can be provided by Global Grooves (please indicate this on the sign up form).

Level:

This is an open level course but some prior experience is required

Cost:

Free* to Sambangra Members** past and present (Includes full weekend camping and festival passes!)Donations to the charity are gratefully received.Conditions: * In the event of a ‘no show’ you will be charged a cancellation fee for the value of the weekend camping and ticket pass of £175.

** Sambangra members must book on this course before the 1st July 2018 at which time the tickets will be available to the wider Carnival community.

Venue:

Address: CarFest North, Bolesworth, Tattenhall, Chester, CH3 9HQ

About Carfest:

CarFest is an incredible annual music and motoring festival held in Cheshire (“CarFest North”) and Hampshire (“CarFest South”). It was founded by the radio presenter Chris Evans in 2012, and raises funds for Children in Need. As of July 2015 it has raised over £3½ million for the charity.This is Global Grooves’ second year at CarFest after helping to produce the first ever CarFest Carnival in 2017. This year we want the Carnival to be even bigger and better. Here’s a taste of some of the things we got up to last year…

Schedule:

Friday 27th July* – Arrival at CarFest North – Full weekend Camping tickets will be provided worth £173 each. Details of how to access the festival will be sent to you with your booking information. (Campers can arrive from 7am when the camping car park opens with the campsite opening at 8am for campers to set up camp.)

Saturday 28th July* – Masterclass; meet at the ‘Carnival Area’ at 12pm – full details will be sent to you with your booking information. (Day visitors can arrive from 9am* when the day visitor car park opens with the festival site opening at 10am* and closing at 11pm.)

Sunday 26th July* – Carnival Day; Participants will meet at 11am at the carnival start ready to perform a short parade around the CarFest Race Track accompanied by thousands of others. Full details will be provided to all participants. (Campers may camp on Sunday evening and are asked to leave the site by 11am on the Monday.)

*Please note that workshop and parade times are subject to change when the CarFest Schedule is finalised.

Accommodation:

Full weekend camping and festival passes will be provided for all participants, camping will be in the crew/participant camping field. You music bring your own tent – limited campervan passes are available on a first come first served basis. The camp site is clean, secure and quiet with excellent hot showers and brilliant toilet facilities. Parking is available a short walk from the camping area.

Food:

Food will not be provided. There is an excellent selection of food vendors scattered throughout the festival site of feel free to bring along your own.

Bookings:

SIGN UP TO CARFEST NORTH IS NOW CLOSED. TO BE ADDED TO THE WAITING LIST EMAIL HELLO@GLOBALGROOVES.ORG

Please note very limited places are available for this event so we advice you to book now to avoid disappointment. To book your place on SAMBANGRA at CarFest North visit the link at the top right of this page (standard browser) or the bottom of the page (mobile browser).

Additional Festival Tickets:

Tickets for CarFest North are now nearly sold out so if you wish to purchase additional tickets for friends and family members then book now!

There are also several paid roles available for this event

Visual Arts workshop assistants (aged 18+)

To enable the smooth running of our community participatory workshops on the event days, we are offering paid opportunities for a handful of visual arts workshop assistants who will work alongside a team of lead artists to hep festival goers enjoy making their CAR-nival creations.

Join the Global Grooves Bloco

Join the Global Grooves Bloco and workshop delivery team! GG is seeking a team of artists to form our brand new Carnival Bloco, kicking off with a hot season of festivals and events all over the UK this summer! Primarily we are looking for percussionists, though dancers and puppeteers and producers will also be needed for some events. The initial rehearsal(s)/development admin is not paid, but we hope to work closely with a small team of artists to develop a regular paid performance group who can get out there on the street and show the world what GG is all about.

Global Grooves is an artist-led carnival arts organisation based in the North West of England. We bring together the very best culturally diverse artists from around the world to create stunning carnival presentations, develop next generation artists, incubate companies, stimulate innovation in the sector and inspire diverse communities to participate in carnival, both across UK and internationally.